Last year saw the mobile games market surge, free-to-play maintain its hold, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds soar to become a breakout hit, as revealed in the 2017 Year In Review report from SuperData Research. The report digs into data and trends in digital games and interactive media, including the year-end figures for mobile, PC, console, and esports games, as well as gaming video content.
See the full report here on SuperData’s website: https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ .
Summary of 2017 Year In Review, Digital Games and Interactive Media report:
- One in three people on the planet (2.5B) play free-to-play games across PC and mobile platforms. Free-to-play games maintain their grip on the worldwide games market, generating $82B, or 89% across mobile and PC markets.
- Consumers spent $14B more on mobile games in 2017 than in 2016. Games such as Arena of Valor and Fantasy Westward Journey from Asian publishers like Tencent and NetEase contributed to a 31% year-over-year growth for the worldwide mobile market.
- Premium PC title PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was 2017’s breakout success, generating $712M in revenue in just eight months. The title reinvigorated player interest in the battle royale genre, paving the way for similar games like Fortnite and Knives Out.
- Esports generated $756M in revenue and is on track to become a billion dollar business in 2018. Popular titles like League of Legendsand Overwatch helped esports attract a sizable audience of 258M unique viewers.
- Price cuts on virtual reality (VR) headsets and must-have content drove extended reality (XR) revenue up by 37% in 2017. Steep Oculus Rift price cuts boosted sales and allowed the headset to outsell HTC’s Vive during the year. In the console space, PlayStation VR enjoyed positive momentum as gamers jumped at the chance to play major game franchises like Resident Evil and The Elder Scrolls in VR.
